1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an analog electronic timepiece for indicating time by driving to rotate a time hand based on a pulse signal and setting time of the time hand by stopping to operate the time hand by predetermined operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, there has been used an analog electronic timepiece for indicating time by driving to rotate a time hand by a motor based on a pulse signal.
When time of an analog electronic timepiece is set, as a method of accurately setting even a second hand, in order to set the second hand to accurate second, there is provided a method of setting an hour/minute hand in a state in which the second hand is made stationary at a 0 second position (0 second prescription).
In order to carry out the 0 second prescription, by inputting a reset signal to an integrated circuit used in an electronic timepiece by carrying out operation of pulling a crown or the like, a drive pulse for operating the second hand is stopped to thereby stop the second hand at the 0 second position.
In order to stop the second hand at the 0 second position as described above, the second hand needs to be stopped at the 0 second position by counting a timing and when the second hand passes through the 0 second position by losing the timing, one must await for 1 minute until the second hand arrives again at the 0 second position.
Particularly, in the case of an electronic timepiece for operating the second hand at a high period of plural steps (for example, 4 steps or more) in 1 second (high period operation), there poses a problem that it is difficult to accurately stop the second hand at the 0 second position.
It is a problem of the invention to be capable of easily stopping a second hand at a 0 second position even in an analog electronic timepiece for carrying out high period operation.
According to the invention, there is provided an analog electronic timepiece characterized in that in an analog electronic timepiece for indicating time by driving to rotate a time hand based on a pulse signal and setting time of the time hand by stopping to operate the time hand by a predetermined operation, the analog electronic timepiece comprising an operating portion, detecting means for detecting operation of the operating portion, pulse generating means for repeatedly outputting a pulse signal of a predetermined pulse number per a predetermined time period, and motor driving means for controlling to rotate a motor for driving to rotate a second hand by a number in correspondence with the pulse number of the pulse signal received from the pulse generating means, wherein the pulse generating means outputs a first pulse signal of a predetermined pulse number per the predetermined time period aligned at equal intervals repeatedly at every time of the predetermined time period when it is detected by the detecting means that the operation of the operating portion is not operated and outputs a second pulse signal concentrated with pulses of the predetermined number in a predetermined range within the predetermined time period repeatedly at every time of the predetermined time period when it is detected by the detecting means that the operation of the operating portion is operated.
The pulse generating means repeatedly outputs the first pulse signal of the predetermined pulse number per the predetermined time period aligned at equal intervals when it is detected by the detecting means that the operation of the operating portion is not operated and outputs the second pulse signal concentrated with the predetermined number of pulses in the predetermined range within the predetermined time period when it is detected by the detecting means that the operation of the operating portion is operated, repeatedly at every time of the predetermined time period. Thereby, when the operation of the operating portion is not operated, the second hand is driven to rotate at equal speed and when the operating portion is operated, the second hand repeatedly carries out operation of stopping for a constant time period after having been operated at high speed.
In this case, there may be constructed a constitution in which the pulse generating means comprises pulse forming means for forming a low frequency pulse signal at a predetermined frequency and a high frequency pulse signal at a frequency higher than the predetermined frequency of the low frequency pulse signal and controlling means for selectively passing the low frequency pulse signal and the high frequency pulse signal in accordance with a detection result of the operation of the operating portion by the detecting means, the controlling means outputs the low frequency pulse signal of the predetermined pulse number as the first pulse signal at every time of the predetermined time period when it is detected by the detecting means that the operation of the operating portion is operated and outputs the consecutive high frequency pulse signals in a predetermined range as the second pulse signal at every time of the predetermined time period such that a pulse number per the predetermined time period becomes equal to a number of the first pulse signal when it is detected by the detecting means that the operation of the operating portion is operated.
Further, there may be constructed a constitution in which the operating portion is operated by other operation different from the operation and the pulse generating means stops outputting the pulse signal when it is detected by the detecting means that the operating portion is operated by the other operation, to thereby stop rotating the motor.
Further, there may be constructed a constitution in which the operating portion is constituted by a crown and the pulse generating means outputs the second pulse signal when it is detected by the detecting means that the crown is operated by a one stage pulling operation.
Further, there may be constructed a constitution in which the pulse generating means stops outputting the pulse signal when it is detected by the detecting means that the crown is operated by a two stages pulling operation.
Further, the predetermined time period may be one second.